Sheets for cleaning tools employing nonwoven fabric are employed in cleaning tools used for cleaning by wiping away various types of dirt such as dirt or dust adhering to floors or walls, food scraps such as breadcrumbs, hair, thread dust or various other types of fine dirt. Sheets for cleaning tools are widely employed in the form of so-called throwaway or replaceable sheets which can be removed and replaced by a new sheet when they become contaminated to a certain degree. Known types of sheets for cleaning tools include (1) cleaning sheets having liquid paraffin or the like adhering to the surface of a nonwoven fabric sheet; and (2) sheets for cleaning tools (see Patent Reference 1) wherein joining threads are provided at fixed intervals intersecting with long fiber filaments in a fixed direction provided on a base sheet and constructed such that dust or debris is captured by nap raising at the surface by cutting some or all of the long fiber filaments between the joining threads.
However, the sheets for cleaning tools of (1) above could only capture fine particles of dirt adhering to the surface thereof and had a low ability to capture comparatively large particles of dirt. Also, the sheets for cleaning tools of (1) above had a low ability to hold the captured dust or debris. In contrast, the sheets for cleaning tools of (2) described above are capable of capturing dust by the long fiber portions that are formed on the surface thereof, thereby improving the capturing performance or holding performance in respect of dust or debris, but their ability to capture comparatively large particles of dirt is insufficient; better dirt capturing performance and holding ability are therefore sought.
Also, the aforementioned conventional cleaning tool sheet is employed (see Patent Reference 2) in a cleaning tool for wiping a floor surface by attaching to the undersurface of the pedestal of a holder constituted by joining a long handle to a flat-plate-form pedestal. To perform cleaning using this cleaning tool for wiping the floor surface, the cleaning tool is held by the handle and wiping is performed with the sheet for the cleaning tool attached to the pedestal pressed against the surface that is to be cleaned. The cleaning tool sheet that is attached to the pedestal is lacking in elasticity, since it is itself formed of thin nonwoven fabric or the like and so has scarcely any cushioning ability.
When a wiping task is performed using this cleaning tool for floor wiping, although the dirt can be comparatively efficiently captured at the periphery of the pedestal, since a large pressure is applied in this region, its ability to capture various types of dirt in the middle region of the pedestal is poor, since little pressure is applied in this region, compared with the peripheral region: there was therefore the problem that efficient use of the cleaning tool sheet as a whole could not be achieved.
Also, as a hand-held cleaning tool employed for removing dust or debris in rooms or vehicles, a “handy mop” (hand-held wiping cleaning tool) is known (see Patent Reference 3) that is used by inserting the attaching part of a grip that is constituted of a holding part and an attaching part having two flat parallel insertion plates in a gap for attaching a mop body having two parallel gaps for attaching (attachment gaps). The mop body that is employed in this hand-held wiping cleaning tool may be replaced by a new mop body when it becomes contaminated, so disposable type mop bodies are employed. For this mop body, a cleaning tool sheet is employed that is secured by thermal fusion on a line running transversely across the middle thereof and constituted by overlaying two or three sheets of nap-raised nonwoven fabric made of synthetic resin. On the upper surface of the mop body, there are formed two parallel attachment gaps between three thermal fusion lines; pieces of nonwoven fabric of short length are overlaid in the middle thereof on nonwoven fabric of the same size as the mop, being stuck in position on these three thermal fusion lines in the length direction.
However, since the cleaning tool sheet that is employed as a mop body of the aforesaid hand-held wiping cleaning tool is merely constituted by overlaying two or three sheets of nonwoven fabric made of nap-raised synthetic resin, its ability to capture comparatively large particles of dirt is insufficient, just as in the case of the cleaning tool sheet disclosed in Patent Reference 2; thus, further improvement in dirt capturing performance and holding ability are sought.
A cleaning tool that is formed in the form of a glove is also known (see Patent Reference 4). Specifically, this is of a construction adopting a design taking into account beforehand the desired borders where a wiping function is to be provided and engaging and overlaying two cut sheets, providing a hand insertion hole in which the fingers can be inserted and whose periphery is stitched or glued along the outline of the fingers; thus fine cleaning can be achieved by utilizing wiping sheet faces whereof the borders or the tip of the borders can abut and contact all the nooks and crannies of complex curved surfaces with a high degree of irregularity and enable transmission of a sensation of contact to the fingertips.
However, since the aforesaid conventional glove-form cleaning tool employed a wooly material or other wiping sheet or nonwoven fabric of excellent dirt capturing characteristics it was only able to capture fine particles of dirt adhering to its surface and its ability to capture comparatively large particles of dirt was low.
Also, with a conventional glove-form cleaning tool as described above, it was difficult to apply pressure at portions other than the fingertips so the ability to capture dirt was low. There was the problem of low efficiency, since capture of dirt could only be performed in an extremely restricted portion of the cleaning tool such as at the fingertips, portions other than these being substantially unused for capture of dirt.
Also, with a conventional glove-form cleaning tool as described above, the ability to hold captured dirt was restricted and the ability to capture comparatively large particles of dirt was insufficient; thus a cleaning tool of better capturing ability and holding ability for dirt was sought.
The present invention was made in order to solve the above problems, its object being to provide a cleaning tool sheet of excellent ability to capture and ability to hold various types of dirt such as dust or debris.
A further object, in a cleaning tool sheet employed in a cleaning tool for floor wiping, is to provide a cleaning tool sheet having a cushioning effect when attached to a pedestal for a cleaning tool so that pressure can be applied to the entirety from the peripheral portion to the central portion of the pedestal, and which thus exhibits the ability to capture various types of dust or debris over the entire surface to be cleaned and so is capable of efficiently utilizing this entire cleaning tool sheet.
Yet a further object is to provide a cleaning tool sheet having excellent dirt capturing ability and dirt holding ability in a cleaning tool sheet employed in a hand-held wiping cleaning tool.
Also a further object, in a glove-form cleaning tool, is to provide a cleaning tool of excellent ability to capture and ability to hold various types of dirt such as dust or debris that is easy to use and whereby the whole thereof can be efficiently utilized.
[Patent reference 1] Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-245670
[Patent reference 2] Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-296084
[Patent reference 3] Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-265391
[Patent reference 4] Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-510